First Post

Posted on 12 October 2015

Let me take you back to my high school days for a brief synopsis of my life of rebellion. Multiple detention slips, calls home to the parentals, Principal office hang outs, and mild looks of annoyance from my teachers. Was I a bad kid? Of course not! I just had a habitual nature to push the boundaries against the #1 loathed rule amongst all women: Dress Code. Now let me be clear; I never wanted my booty or midriff hanging out, I just didn’t think it was fair to enforce a certain rule for every female student (i.e. skirts must be at least 3 inches longer than longest fingertip while hands are by your side), when each one of us had a different body type. Since I had really long arms, I was forced to wear a much longer skirt than the majority of my female class.

I know woe is me.

So fast forward a very small number of years to present day and that damn rule is still following me around and I’m still getting slips of paper telling me I’m in trouble! Let me reiterate again that I do not want my booty or midriff hanging out (or anyone else’s for that matter); I just don’t want to dress in a similar fashion to my husband in order to golf. Sure, he looks hot in his golf clothes, but our body types are incredibly different. So why are the dress codes and the clothing available to female golfers so similar to those available for men? Personally, I prefer a more feminine look. Something polished, practical, flattering, and dang it I want to look like a woman! I want clothes that I will wear on the go as well as when I’m just golfing. Why am I forced to wear something to golf in that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing even to the grocery store? Because of the aforementioned rule? Because no one has updated the dress code since the suffrage? Because golf is still mainly geared towards men?

Ummmmmm no! Condoleezza Rice was allowed to join Augusta, and now I want to be allowed to show my shoulders and maybe a little back! When I say this, I want you to understand that I am 100% about preserving the sanctity of the game. It’s not that I want a bunch of scantily clad women running around the greens (I have enough distractions with snakes, sand and water). What I am saying is that the dress code and the game haven’t evolved when it comes to women… especially millennial women. I understand that this is a hot topic in the golf community right now. There have been outreach programs specifically geared towards women in an attempt to get females more involved in the game. Here’s an idea… let them wear something cute! For a lot of women it starts with an outfit (I know that seems shallow, but it’s true). I’ve been golfing for about 8 years now and for the longest time I played with my husband and his male friends because I didn’t know any females that golfed. His friends ate up the fact that we played together. They didn’t even mind stopping at the ladies’ tee box, or when I shanked it and mumbled a few obscenities under my breath. Do you know what did bother them about the whole situation? That their wives didn’t play.

Every time a new friend joined us for a round he would ask the same question… “Can you get my wife to like to golf?” Maybe they thought I was a magician, I’m not really sure. I mean I do have some unbelievable, accidental trick shots, but if someone isn’t interested in golf, what am I going to do or say to change that? Once I explained to them that I couldn’t make their wives like golf, I once again, received the same response from each person. “If you could get her a cute outfit to wear then I know she would be more inclined to at least give it a shot and play with you”. Wait, what? She’s going to play with me? I don’t even know her. I can’t teach her. Heck, I need lessons myself. Did you see me hit it into the water back there and almost kill that crane? (The crane didn’t die…When we rushed over hysterically to take it to the vet it flew away, so PETA don’t come after me). Once I thought about it though, I actually loved the idea that maybe I would find a female golf partner out of the deal. The only problem was coming up with a “cute golf outfit”. Until now.

What I have learned from the past 8 years of my golf life is this… Men want women to golf because that means they can play more. They can play more because all of a sudden quality time spent together can be done on the golf course, or she begins playing with her own friends, therefore freeing up time for her husband to play with his friends, or she can just down right appreciate the time commitment it takes to excel at the sport. But wait… This entire blog is about women! Who cares what the men think, right? Women want to golf, a lot of women just don’t know it yet. It’s intimidating… It’s a man’s world/course! This is the stigma because it’s true. Even if you want to just drive the cart (which is how a lot of women start out), you still have to be dressed appropriately. The clothes that are necessary to play right are not something most women have laying around and can just throw on. Why? Because they’re hideous! Not only are they hideous, they’re expensive! If you want me to pay $100 for something can it please not be Bermuda shorts with a printed sash belt? I’ll tell you what I want. I want women to golf. I want to have more girlfriends I can golf with. I want my daughter (although non-existent at the moment) to appreciate, know, love and play the sport the way that I do. I want my son to have an actual sport that he can play with his mommy. I want country clubs to thrive and be able to maintain their exclusiveness that is so alluring and gives so many of us millennials something to aspire to.

Maybe FlirTee Golf isn’t going to change these problems overnight, but you have to start somewhere and with women, sometimes all it takes is an outfit. After a few rounds it’s a par or hitting the flag… and maybe, eventually, the love of the game and company of female friends will drive many more women to love golf as much as I do…. and it all started with a FlirTee. Little. Outfit.